I have spent the last two months chasing silvers around the Snohomish river system, and it's been a very interesting season. After 27 trips targeting silvers there never seemed to be a consistent pattern. In past years we would find fish and then mix up our offerings until we found a winner, this year the trick was finding the fish. We spent a lot of time moving from spot to spot looking for schools of fish and when we did find them they did not seem to stay in one place long. We found most of our success in the lower river, the fish in the sloughs were way more aggressive and each tide would replenish the stock. Out of the 27 trips specifically targeting silvers we only had three days with no fish, with most days averaging two fish per person. Another interesting tidbit was most fish this year came on big spinners size 5-6 with some kind of rubber squid as opposed to previous years where Dick-Nites, various types of jigs and small Vibrax size 2-3 were the ticket. Now starts the late run silvers and I have several rivers that will produce well into January with the added bonus of bright Steelhead. I also just returned from Taking a group to Rufus Woods and had a great time catching 3-10 pound trips, rainbows, cutts and the occasional brown. We also picked up some real nice walleye while jigging for trout.
Skagit Silver..............Sept. 13th and 14th
Worked the upper river with a couple Skagit veterans over the weekend and we had a great time, wrestling with Silvers and Dollies on light tackle. We would drop in to all our favorite holes get several hook-ups, then it would get slow and we would move on to the next spot. All the Silvers we caught were chrome bright and fought like you could not believe we also hooked many Dollies in the 3-6lb. range. The river is very low and the launch at Rockport was a real challenge, most the fisherman put-in across the river but there is not much parking and after a few rigs launch it's tough to turn around to back in.
Sammamish Struggles...............Sept. 10th
Went out on Sammamish with a great group today in search of some Largemouth. I saw a lot of guys at the launch who were going King fishing, but only a few Bass fishermen. Lots and lots of the snotty type of weeds made the fishing a little tough but the youngest of our crew had a solid hook-up early on. We had a lot of short strikes on smaller size bass and got into several schools of really nice size perch. Finally after a dry spell and a long boat ride to the other end of the lake we got into a bit of a pattern and start getting hits on Senkos in about 5' of water. It was a blast to see the teenager in our group land his first bass, a solid largie in the 3lb range. We went on to hook several more nice largemouth, but really had to work to get our hits today. The fish will continue to get more and more aggressive as the weather cools making late Sept. and October one of the best times of the year to target both small and largemouth bass and the other watercraft activity is starting to slow down making for a more pleasurable fishing experience.
Slough Fish'in.................Sept. 6th & 7th
Back to back days on the Slough, two days working one of my favorite fisheries and it was well worth the effort. Two full days and multiple tides changes gave us every the opportunity to experience everything the slough has to offer. My small group and I caught dozens of cutthroat in the 12"-16" range on ultra-light tackle, and landed a batch of fish over 18" with the largest being just over 21". We also encountered a few Silvers, most were follow-ups while reeling in our lines who would spook when they saw the boat, but we did manage a couple hook-ups and the fights were crazy on the ultra-light tackle. If you have never tried this fishery, you owe it to yourself to give it a go, it's close to home and the scenery is outstanding.
Sept. 1st the Silver fest begins!! Sept.1st
Uncle Joe and I launched at Rockport to do a test trip for Dollies. The day started a little bumpy as the water level was as low as I have seen it in the last few years and launching was a real challenge, but with Joe's help we got the boat in the water. We dropped down to our starter hole to anchor and get set up. While Uncle Joe was messing with his rods, I threw out our secret lure and hit a three pound Dollie on my first cast. Joe finally gets his line in the water and like usual hooks up right away, we could tell it was a good fish as it made three long runs without breaking the surface. When it did come up we both freaked out as it was the biggest Steelhead I have ever seen, it made several more power runs and came right by the boat so we got another good look at this once in lifetime fish. Joe did a good job considering he was working with 6lb test line, the toad was getting close to the net when it made a run that only a monster Steelhead can do, then came out of the water three feet and broke the line. I have been fishing these waters for nearly forty years and have caught my share of twenty plus pound fish but I have never seen a Steelhead this large, it had to be close to thirty pounds!! After hooking a fish like that in the first fifteen minutes of fishing, whats left ? We went on to hook multiple Dollies over three pounds, and had several in the five pound range, but the best part of this story is we got into several schools of Silvers and all were dime bright, again keep in mind this is Sept. first at Rockport! We both kept one for the barbie and they were excellent table fare. This is one of the funnest fisheries around, you got to get in on this, and this is just the start of the fun! We have caught Silvers until the middle of Feb. ! Give us a call to book a trip, 360-333-9326
Small pond big fish! Aug.17th
Went with a long time friend/client to a secret pond up in the hills that has always been good for Cutthroat and trophy size Brook trout. The trout fishing has declined somewhat over the years as someone introduced Largemouth to the 10 acre pond. We had a great time catching Bass up to three pounds [ I actually landed 21 Bass ] but the highlight of the day was a Brook Trout that had to go at least five pounds. The fight was crazy as the pond is filled with logs and stumps but I did finally land and released the toad. We caught several other trout in the 2-3 pound range and had the pond to ourselves the whole day.
The heat is on! Aug. 8th
We hit lake Goodwin at the crack of noon? This client never wants to fish early, and that's O.K. by me as it's nice to sleep in occasionally. We started by drop-shotting sniper snubs in 12-15 feet of water and started catching dinks right away, so we moved to slightly deeper water 18-20 and picked up a three pounder right away. By late afternoon we were struggling to get even small fish and we are getting cooked in the direct sun, so we switched over to trolling perch pattern cranks running about 8-10 feet while we had a sandwich and a beverage. After just a minutes my rod just buries and line is burning off and the fight is on, after about five minutes we still have not seen the fish, no jumps just long hard deep runs. I Finally get the fish to the net and it turns out to be a five pound Smallie, what a brute, pound for pound they are one of the best fighting fish around. So we get back to trolling and eating and my friends rod starts bouncing and the line is going sideways fast as the fish is running, as he tries to catch up to the fish reeling frantically it breaks water and we see it's a very large trout! He lands the Rainbow just as the plug comes unpinned 22" and 3 1/2 lbs just a great looking fish, firm and all fins crisp and intact. After that we caught a few more 12-14 inch trout and called it a day. It's the time of year for some night time Bass fishing, if you have never done this it is a gas, and the fishing can be crazy! Give us a call 360-333-9326
Clouser Minnow is a winner! Aug. 3rd
Went out Sunday with a long time client who loves to fly fish for Searuns. We fished from early afternoon to about 6:00 in the evening, with great weather and a slight breeze. We had a bit of a slow start as the tide was not in our favor and we were experimenting with various patterns. We caught several 10-14 inchers using dry flies but could not connect with any sizable fish so we switched to Clousers and that turned out to the trick! The last two hours were outstanding as we caught and released multiple fish in the 16-20 inch range. The highlight of the day occurred while we were trolling the Clousers back to the boat launch relaxing with a beverage when the water 75ft back erupts with the first Silver of the year! What a bonus, hooking a Silver in 5ft of water on light tackle is an absolute gas. I love this time of year, this signifies the start of the annual Silver fest which can last until late Feb. on some rivers. To get in on this give us a call 360-333-9326!!
Central Wa. has it going on! July25th-Aug. 1st
We spent the last week based out of Chelan, and it was fishing overload! We fished for multiple species all over the place, the Smallmouth in Lake Chelan are smashing swimbaits, 2-4 pounders were fairly common and these fish are healthy. The Largemouth fishing was great in several spots but we did really well at Lake Wapato, I won't mention what we were specifically using but the key was blue. The Columbia is jammed with Kings and Sockeye right now and you don't need to fight the crowds! The area around Chelan Falls and upstream to the dam is incredibly under fished and you can fill the boat with limits of Sockeye and Kings. These fish are good eaters, with solid flesh and fine on the grill, although I do save some for the smoker.
Crabbing still strong! July 19th
Took a group out for some crabbing and it was limits for all. I was a little nervous after our first pull yielded only one keeper, but then we got a tide change and it made all the difference! We have been getting spoiled with this new spot, scoring limits of BIG crab with short pulls so when we got off to a slow start I was really shocked. No fishing today, the group choose to focus on the crab so it made for a low- key relaxing day!